What I say unto you I say unto all, watch. Mark 13:37

December 25, 2010

Hamas: Israel has two options - death or leaving Palestinian lands

The head of Hamas’ armed wing warned Israel on Saturday
against launching any new military action in the Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of
attempting to escalate the situation. The statement came after days of renewed
rocket fire on Israeli communities and Israel Defense Forces strikes in Gaza.

Hamas would not rest until Israel was ousted from Palestine,
said Ahmed al-Jabari, leader of the Izz a-din al-Qassam Brigades, adding that
Israel had two options – to leave Palestinian territories or face death. He said
that Hamas resistance would continue as long as Zionists remained in Palestine.

Also Saturday, Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida warned
Israel to refrain from any further aggression in the Gaza Strip, at a news
conference in Gaza to mark the second anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, a
three-week IDF incursion aimed at halting rocket fire on Israel’s southern
communities from the strip.

“We are now stronger than before and during the war, and our
silence over the past two years was only for evaluating the situation,” Abu
Obeida told the news conference. “We won’t face the current attempts of the
enemy to escalate the situation with silence.”

Abu Obeida said that the news conference was being held to
mark the second anniversary of the Gaza war, and the 23rd anniversary of the
founding of Hamas.

Israel Air Force warplanes carried out three airstrikes late
Friday against targets in the Gaza Strip. Israeli F-16s flying over the coastal
enclave fired two missiles at suspected smuggling tunnels on the border between
southern Gaza and Egypt. No injuries were reported, witnesses said.

An IDF spokesman confirmed the three air raids, saying the
strikes were in response to a homemade rocket fired earlier Friday by Gaza
militant groups at southern Israel.

Earlier Friday, a Hamas official said that the organization
was committed to the unofficial ceasefire with Israel reached after Operation
Cast Lead in 2008, despite the recent rise in violence.

But rocket and mortar fire from Gaza have increased in the
run-up to the second anniversary of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, which
began on December 27, 2008 and lasted for three weeks. †